On January 16, I should have won this case — it should have been over. When a defendant fails to file an answer by the deadline, the case moves into default, meaning I was entitled to default judgment under the rules. Frank’s Motion to Strike hadn’t been ruled on yet, and it was clearly procedurally defective. His Motion for Extension of Time hadn’t been ruled on either. Normally, in this situation, you file an Entry of Default with the clerk, and they enter it automatically. However, because of the procedural mess Frank created with these pending motions, I knew the clerk would probably refuse to process it.
To keep the case moving forward, I filed a Motion for Default Judgment under Rule 55(b) instead of 55(a), asking a judge — not the clerk — to rule. I scheduled the hearing for January 23, 2025, because I already had a hearing scheduled that day for my Motion to Designate the case as Exceptional Status. Since the Chief District Court Judge was the only judge who could rule on that Exceptional Case motion, I assumed she would also handle the Default Judgment motion. I felt confident about this because the judge in charge of District Court isn’t likely to let obvious procedural misconduct slide.
The defendants did not file any objection to my Motion for Default Judgment. And it’s important to remember — Frank himself had previously said in an email that he was going to try to get his Motion to Strike heard on January 23 as well, so he should have welcomed my filing the motion for default judgment, since a hearing was already necessary.
NC G.S. 1A-1, Rule 55. Default
(2) By the Judge. — a. In all other cases the party entitled to a judgment by default shall apply to the judge therefor; but no judgment by default shall be entered against an infant or incompetent person unless represented in the action by a guardian ad litem or other such representative who has appeared therein. If the party against whom judgment by default is sought has appeared in the action, that party (or, if appearing by representative, the representative) shall be served with written notice of the application for judgment at least three days prior to the hearing on such application. If, in order to enable the judge to enter judgment or to carry it into effect, it is necessary to take an account or to determine the amount of damages or to establish the truth of any averment by evidence or to take an investigation of any other matter, the judge may conduct such hearings or order such references as the judge deems necessary and proper and shall accord a right of trial by jury to the parties when and as required by the Constitution or by any statute of North Carolina. If the plaintiff seeks to establish paternity under Article 3 of Chapter 49 of the General Statutes and the defendant fails to appear, the judge shall enter judgment by default.